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EXCLUSIVE: Vijay Raaz ousted from Ajay Devgn’s Son of Sardaar 2 – Official statements from actor and producer Kumar Mangat
While Kumar Mangat calls out the unprofessional behaviour of Vijay Raaz on Son of Sardaar 2 sets, the latter shares his side of the story. Details
Trigger Warning: This article contains references to misconduct and assault.
Disclaimer: If you know someone who is struggling with assault, please reach out to the authorities and report it. There are several helplines available for the same.
Earlier in the week, Pinkvilla had exclusively reported that Ajay Devgn and team have put together a big star-cast for the comic caper, Son of Sardaar 2, which went on floors in London. We informed our readers that the film will feature Ravi Kishan, Mrunal Thakur, Vijay Raaz, Chunkey Pandey, Vindu Dara Singh, Deepak Dobriyal, Mukul Dev, Ashwini Kalsekar, Kubbra Sait, and Sanjay Dutt in key roles. And now, in a shocking turn of events, we have exclusively learnt from the sets that the producers have decided to take a stern step by removing Vijay Raaz from the film.
According to sources close to the development, Vijay Raaz has allegedly been very difficult with the producers and the crew of Son of Sardaar 2 on the sets of the film. We reached out to Kumar Mangat Pathak, who is co-producing Son of Sardaar 2 with Ajay Devgn for a comment. The filmmaker said, “Yes, it’s true that we have removed Vijay Raaz from the film because of his behaviour on the sets. He demanded for bigger rooms, vanity van and also overcharged us for the spot boys. In-fact, his spot boy was paid Rs.20,000 per night which is more than any big actor. UK is an expensive place, and everyone got standard rooms during the shoot, but he demanded premium suites. When we tried explaining the costing scenario to him, he refused to understand, and spoke rudely. His constant response was, ‘Aap Logo Ne Mujhe Approach Kiya, Main Kaunsa Saamne Se Aya Kaam Mangne’. While we tried to accommodate all his demands, the behaviour kept getting worse, as his demands never ended. He started to demand two cars for a 3 person staff to travel for as well. How can we do that? When the EP said no, he was rude with the EP (Executive Producer). After all the discussions, we decided to remove him from the film.”
Vijay Raaz on the other hand had a different story to share. The actor told Pinkvilla, “I reached the location before time for trial. I reached the van, and Ravi Kishan came to meet me. The EP, Ashish, and the producer Kumar Mangat came to meet me, followed by director Vijay Arora. I stepped out of the van, and spotted Ajay Devgn standing around 25 metres away. I didn’t go to greet him as he was busy, and I continued to speak to my friends around. 25 minutes later, Mr. Kumar Mangat came to me and said, ‘Aap Film Se Nikal Jaaye, Hum Aapko Nikal Rahe Hai’. The only misconduct from my end is, I didn’t greet Mr. Ajay Devgn. I didn’t even meet the crew, and these are the only people I interacted with. I was removed from the film 30 minutes of reaching the sets, as I didn’t greet Ajay Devgn. These are powerful people, and the chatter of misconduct doesn’t arise at all.”
Kumar Mangat Pathak informs that the issues didn’t arise on the sets, but, started from the moment Vijay Raaz signed for the film in Mumbai. “Ajay Devgn isn’t someone who is waiting to be greeted by people. He always likes to be surrounded by creative people and treats everyone with respect. The story of him being removed for not greeting Ajay Devgn is false. We suffered a loss of at-least two crore for removing Vijay Raaz from the film and we would not take such a step for small matters. His behaviour was a major area of concern and there is no place for disrespect on the sets of our film, as we work like a family. He constantly told all our EP’s and even me that he isn’t in need of doing Son of Sardaar 2, and he is doing it only because we approached him. He kept demanding bigger room, despite knowing that the rooms cost a bomb in UK. He refused to co-operate. The attitude is a problem and even we didn’t want to associate with a person having such mentality,” Mangat explained.
Addressing the query of making demands for room, Vijay had his defence. “I was asked to stay in a small room, with no space to move around. I am a person who does Yoga in the morning, and I needed some space in the room. 26 years in the industry, can’t I make this demand?,” he questioned.
Kumar Mangat insists that they are content with the decision of removing Vijay Raaz from the film. “Even other actors and I stayed in the same category of room as him which costs Rs. 45,000 for a night and in one of the best hotels, it was very sizable. There is no place for unprofessional behaviour. It’s a good thing that we removed him before the start of shoot, as his presence and behaviour would have created a lot of issues on the set. Ajay Devgn has worked with so many senior actors and such problems never happened. Yes, I went to meet him (Vijay) in the vanity van on the day of shoot, but, the demand he made there was the final nail in coffin. He asked us for a vanity similar to Ajay Devgn. Like I said earlier, the demands never ended, and after discussing with Ajay, I removed him from the film. We didn’t remove him for not greeting Ajay Devgn, we have removed him for unreasonable demands and misconduct with the crew. He has now even refused to pay back the advance he has taken,” said Kumar Mangat in anger.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Mishra has now replaced Vijay Raaz for the part. “The role will now be played by Sanjay Mishra,” Mangat confirmed. According to the officials on the set, Vijay Raaz’s spot boy also allegedly sexually assaulted a hotel staff under the influence of alcohol. “These are two different stories and there is a difference of at-least 10 hours in the two episodes. I was removed from the film on August 4 at 2 PM and the episode at the hotel took place at 11 PM on August 4. Don’t try to mix the two. I have nothing to do with it. However, I don’t encourage such behaviour. I am no longer working with the spot boy,” said Vijay.
Kumar Mangat also addressed the sexual harassment complaint. “His staff is his responsibility. Imagine working with such a demon in the team. We got an official e-mail from the hotel. Strict action will be taken against all offenders. As I said, we are happy to disassociate with Vijay Raaz and we don’t wish to work with such a person”.
Son of Sardaar 2 is presently on floors in UK.
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